Water cooler cabinet construction with tilted front panel

ABSTRACT

A floor-supported water cooler cabinet of the type having a toe pedal is constructed with the front edge of the toe pedal being substantially flush with the front edge of the cabinet sidewalls, and the front panel for the cabinet is tilted inwardly through at least a substantial part of its lower portion so that the exposed portion of the foot pedal is easily viewable and contacted by the user without projecting beyond the basic confines of the cabinet.

United States Patent I I I I Inventors Eugene W. Scott;

Roger I". Chapin, Jr., both of Columbus, Ohio App]. No. 875,347

Filed Nov. 10, 1969 Patented Nov. 16, 197i Assignee Westinghouse Electric Corporation Pittsburgh, Pa.

WATER COOLER CABINET CONSTRUCTION WITH TILTED FRONT PANEL 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 239/295, 067/4 Int. Cl E03b 9/20 Field of Search 239/24-33;

62/389-399; 3l2/l00, 229, 236, 278; D67/4 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re 26,160 2/1967 Sorensen et al 62/394 X [3,217,401 4/l970 Lazzo et 067/4 1,512,628 10/1924 Mueller et al .v 239/295 Primary ExaminerM. Henson Wood, Jr Assistant Examiner.lohn .I. Love Attorneys- F. H. Henson and E. C. Arenz ABSTRACT: A floor-supported water cooler cabinet of the type having a toe pedal is constructed with the front edge of the toe pedal being substantially flush with the front edge of the cabinet sidewalls, and the front panel for the cabinet is tilted inwardly through at least a substantial part of its lower portion so that the exposed portion of the foot pedal is easily viewable and contacted by the user without projecting beyond the basic confines of the cabinet.

PATENTEDuuv 1s l97| SHEET 1 OF 2 PATENTEDunv 16 van SHEET 2 OF 2 WATER COOLER CABINET CONSTRUCTION WlTI-I TILTED FRONT PANEL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The invention pertains to the art of water cooler cabinets of the floor-supported type including a toe pedal for operating the bubbler of the cooler.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is typical of many of the current floor supported pressure water coolers to have a toe pedal at the base for operation of the bubbler valve mounted on top of the basin portion of the cabinet. In most cases, the toe pedal extends beyond the front face of the cabinet which results in an awkward protrusion and also increases the depth of the cabinet as a whole. In some cases, the suggestion has been to taper the depth of the front panel with the thicker part at the top, and the thinner part at the bottom, and arrange the cabinet accordingly, so that the overall front-to-rear depth of the upper portion of the cabinet is equal to or almost equal to the overall depth of the cabinet at the base where the toe pedal protrudes. Examples of such arrangements are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,9l4,252; No. D 184,199; and No. D l72,709. Such arrangements are not considered to be wholly satisfactory in our view because one can still relatively easily trip or be caught upon the projecting toe pedal in passing along the front of the water cooler cabinet, as well as the toe pedal is wholly exposed to view from both sides as well as the front. While exposure of the toe pedal may be limited by wholly recessing it and providing a toe space thereabove in a generally right-cubic-shaped cabinet, this arrangement has the disadvantage of partially hiding the foot pedal and also the disadvantage that the user of the water cooler must place his foot in a recess which he cannot fully view.

Our invention is intended to obviate some of the noted disadvantages of the prior art construction by the construction to be hereafter described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with our invention the construction includes a generally right-cubic-shaped cabinet wrapper which has a pair of opposite, vertically disposed sidewalls having front edges lying in a generally vertical plane and generally defining an open front face for the cabinet, the open front face receiving a front panel which is tilted inwardly throughout at least a substantial portion of its lower portion to adequately expose the toe pedal at the base of the open front face and which is located so that its front edge does not project to any substantial degree beyond the vertical plane defined by the vertical front edges of the wrapper sidewalls.

DRAWING DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a floor supported water cooler cabinet embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view, partly in vertical section, of a lower front comer of the cabinet illustrating the currently preferred construction;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view, partly in vertical section, of an upper front corner of the cabinet;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, exploded isometric view illustrating the relationship between the front edge of a wrapper sidewall, the front panel, and a kick plate; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another form of cabinet construction for carrying out the concept of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The cabinet construction of the water cooler illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a basin I0 forming the top wall of the cabinet and carrying a water bubbler valve 12, the basin being supported on a wrapper forming the opposite sidewalls I4 and 16 and, in the typical construction, the rear wall (not shown) as well. The design of the cabinet as a whole is such that the front edges [8 and 20 of the wrapper sidewalls will lie in a substantially vertical plane when the water cooler is set on a reasonably level floor during installation. In other words, the front-to-rear depth of the wrapper sidewalls is the same at the top as at the bottom. These front edges 18 and 20 generally define the open front face of the cabinet which is adapted to receive the front panel 22.

As may be seen in FIG. I the exposed face of the upper portion 24 of the panel 22 is substantially aligned with the upper ends of the front edges I8 and 20, while the exposed face of the lower end portion 26 of the panel 22 is recessed relative to the front edges at that location, so that the panel 22 as a whole is tilted inwardly from top to bottom. This arrangement adequately exposes the toe pedal 28 located at the base of the open front face of the cabinet. As may also be seen in FIG. 1 the toe pedal extends across substantially the entire width of the open front face and the front edge of the toe pedal is substantially flush with the wrapper wall front edges 18 and 20 at the bottom of the cabinet. A kick plate 30 may also be seen in FIG. I in the space between the lower edge of the front panel 22 and the toe pedal 28. The kick plate is generally vertically disposed and extends across the width of the open front face, and is recessed further than the lower exposed edge of the panel.

Turning to FIGS. 2-4, the currently preferred construction providing means for mounting the front panel 22 in its inwardly tilted disposition may be seen. It is noted that since the front edge flange arrangement of both of the opposite sidewalls I4 and [6 are mirror images of each other, only the structure associated with the left sidewall I4 will be described in detail. The front edge I8 is formed between two right-angle bends of the wrapper sheet. The flange structure also includes a reversely directed leg 32 which extends rearwardly for different distances at the top, middle and bottom. At the top, an inwardly directed flange 34 is provided at a distance rearwardly of the front edge 18 approximately the same dimension as the thickness of the front panel 22. Throughout the major portion of the height of the flange 32, the inwardly directed leg 36 is provided, and at the bottom the flange 32 simply cx tends rearwardly parallel to the sidewall [4 to provide a fastening bracket 38 to which a forwardly directed flange 40 of the kick plate 30 is fastened. Thus a seat is provided to accommodate the upper end of the panel 22 by the corner formed between the reversely directed flange 32 and the inwardly directed flange 34, and a lower right-angle seat which is recessed further than the upper seat is provided by the reversely directed flange 32 and the lower end portion of the inwardly directed flange 36. The relationship of the respective portions of the panel in the seats is best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The front panel 22 includes a relatively short flange along each of its vertical edges and a somewhat deeper flange 42 along its bottom edge which also carries a downwardly directed flange portion 44 which seats against the front face of the kick plate 30 and is fastened thereto by sheet metal screws as is best seen in FIG. 2.

As seen in FIG. 3, the flange arrangement along the upper edge of the front panel includes a forwardly directed bulgc 46 which is captured under a conformingly shaped forwardly directed bulge 48 of the basin 10 so that no fasteners are required at the top end of the front panel 22. This portion of the panel is thus simply clamped between the leg 34 (FIG. 4) and the basin bulge 48.

The toe pedal structure as illustrated is a formed member which includes two side arms 50 which are pivotally supported at points 52 to the cabinet base, the front end parts of the side arms 50 supporting the exposed area of the toe pedal which the user contacts with his toe, which in turn carries an upwardly directed flange $4 at the rear edge thereof. A conventional linkage arrangement 56 extends upwardly from the arm and connects at the top end thereof (not shown) to permit control of the operation of the bubbler with the toe pedal.

It is of the essence of the invention that the foot pedal 28 be substantially wholly recessed relative to the plane defined by the front edges l8 and 20 of the cabinet, i.e., that the front edge of the foot pedal not project beyond that plane to a degree that it noticeably projects; and that the front panel include a sufficient part of at least the lower portion thereof being tilted inwardly at the bottom as to adequately expose the toe pedal to view from above by the user approaching the cooler for use. Thus, it will be appreciated that while from a manufacturing standpoint, and perhaps an esthetic standpoint, the preferred arrangement is as shown in FIG. 1 in which the front panel has a front face which is planar and the entire front face is tilted inwardly for its length, an arrangement as shown in FIG. may be preferable in some instances. There the difference is that the upper portion 24 of the front panel has an exposed face lying substantially in the plane defined by the front edges 18 and of the wrapper wall, while the lower portion 26 tilts inwardly sharply from a break line 58 extending across the panel at an intermediate height.

What we claim is:

l. A floor-supported water cooler cabinet construction comprising:

a top basin having a bubbler;

a generally right-cubic-shaped cabinet wrapper supporting said basin and including a pair of opposite, generally vertically disposed sidewalls having substantially vertically disposed front edges extending downwardly to the floor and generally defining an open front face for said cabinet;

a toe pedal for operating said bubbler extending across substantially the width of said open front face at the lower end thereof. said toe pedal having a sufficient front-torear exposed area to conveniently accommodate the toe of a user, and with the front edge of said toe pedal being generally in the plane defined by the front edges of said wrapper sidewalls;

a front panel for closing said open front face;

means mounting said front panel in said open front face with the exposed face upper end portion of said panel being substantially aligned with the upper end portions of said wrapper sidewall front edges, and with a sufficient part of at least the lower portion of said panel being tilted inwardly at the bottom as to adequately expose said toe pedal to view from above by the user approaching said cooler, said inwardly tilted part lying at an angle relative to said front edges of said wrapper walls.

2. A construction according to claim 1 wherein:

said front panel has a substantially planar exposed face so that said panel is tilted inwardly for its entire height.

3. A construction according to claim 1 wherein said construction includes:

a generally vertically disposed kick plate recessed rearwardly substantially more than the exposed face of the lower end of said front panel to provide a recessed toe space between the exposed face of the lower end of said front panel and the exposed upper surface of said toe pedal.

4. A construction according to claim I wherein:

said wrapper sidewalls include retroverted flange portions and inwardly directed flange portions forming seat means against which said front panel is secured in said tilted disposition.

* i i i t 

1. A floor-supported water cooler cabinet construction comprising: a top basin having a bubbler; a generally right-cubic-shaped cabinet wrapper supporting said basin and including a pair of opposite, generally vertically disposed sidewalls having substantially vertically disposed front edges extending downwardly to the floor and generally defining an open front face for said cabinet; a toe pedal for operating said bubbler extending across substantially the width of said open front face at the lower end thereof, said toe pedal having a sufficient front-to-rear exposed area to conveniently accommodate the toe of a user, and with the front edge of said toe pedal being generally in the plane defined by the front edges of said wrapper sidewalls; a front panel for closing said open front face; means mounting said front panel in said open front face with the exposed face upper end portion of said panel being substantially aligned with the upper end portions of said wrapper sidewall front edges, and with a sufficient part of at least the lower portion of said panel being tilted inwardly at the bottom as to adequately expose said toe pedal to view from above by the user approaching said cooler, said inwardly tilted part lying at an angle relative to said front edges of said wrapper walls.
 2. A construction according to claim 1 wherein: said front panel has a substantially planar exposed face so that said panel is tilted inwardly for its entire height.
 3. A construction according to claim 1 wherein said construction includes: a generally vertically disposed kick plate recessed rearwardly substantially more than the exposed face of the lower end of said front panel to provide a recessed toe space between the exposed face of the lower end of said front panel and the expOsed upper surface of said toe pedal.
 4. A construction according to claim 1 wherein: said wrapper sidewalls include retroverted flange portions and inwardly directed flange portions forming seat means against which said front panel is secured in said tilted disposition. 